Local and regional authorities of European seas have
expressed for many years now, the will to develop
cross-border and regional cooperation projects aimed at
achieving greater prosperity, stability and security of
their populations. For this reason the Congress decided to
launch the initiative of establishing Euroregions around
these seas such as, the Adriatic Euroregion and the Black
Sea Euroregion project.

These Euroregions are new associative structures, which
bring together coastal cities and regions in order to
achieve a sustainable management of their sea basins
according to the specific needs of coastal populations.
Local and regional authorities belonging to the countries
part of these Euroregions can promote cooperation projects
ensuring the social and economic development, the
reinforcement of regional and local democracy and
territorial cohesion.

Official Launch of the Black sea Euroregion

After the Adriatic one, the Congress launched the Black Sea
Euro-region initiative at the conference in Constanta, Romania,
in March 2006, which was followed by conferences in Samsun,
Turkey, in November 2006 and in Odessa, Ukraine, in June 2007.
Territorial authorities taking part in the Black Sea Euroregion
initiative met in Varna (Bulgaria) on 26 September 2008.

14 Territorial authorities from 4 countries signed the
Constituent Act and Statutes of the Euroregion during the Varna
Conference. A result of the initiative launched by the Council
of Europe Congress in 2006, this Euroregion is a platform for
co-operation complementary to existing national
intergovernmental co-operation initiatives, acting in the remit
of regional and municipal competencies. It will serve as a
launching pad for multilateral initiatives using existing
national, European and international financial instruments. The
Euroregion will take the shape of a non-profit association
designed to facilitate inter-regional and inter-municipal
co-operation in the Black Sea basin. (more...)

On 6 February 2006, at an official Conference held in Venice,
the Adriatic regions of six countries signed the “Joint
declaration for the launching of the Euroregion”. The
declaration contained in its appendix the draft Statute of the
Euroregion, to be implemented by the Adriatic Council. The
Adriatic Euroregion was officially founded on 30 June 2006, in
Pula (Croatia) which hosts its headquarters. Ivan Jakovčić,
President of the Istria Region (Croatia), is its President. The
Adriatic Euroregion aims to "protect natural resources,
reinforce social cohesion by joint projects in the fields of
agriculture, fish, tourism and transports, and to assure a
platform of cultural cooperation and exchange".

Around 22 million people live in the area of this Euroregion,
which includes:
7 Croatian regions,
7 Italian regions,
1 Slovenian municipality,
1 Bosnia and Herzegovina canton,
5 Albanian municipalities, and
1 Montenegro municipality.